scholarly journals Harnessing the functional diversity of plant cystatins to design inhibitor variants highly active against herbivorous arthropod digestive proteases

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Tremblay ◽  
Marie-Claire Goulet ◽  
Juan Vorster ◽  
Charles Goulet ◽  
Dominique Michaud
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Phage Display ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Digestive Proteases ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
Plant Cystatin ◽  
Selection Of

Protein engineering approaches have been proposed to improve the inhibitory properties of plant cystatins against herbivorous arthropod digestive proteases. These approaches typically involve the site-directed mutagenesis of functionally relevant amino acids, the production and selection of improved inhibitory variants by molecular phage display procedures, or the design of bi/multifunctional translational fusions integrating one or several cystatin inhibitory domains. Here, we propose a new approach where the function-related structural elements of a cystatin are substituted by the corresponding elements of an alternative cystatin. Cys protease inhibitory assays were first performed with 20 representative plant cystatins and model Cys proteases, including herbivorous arthropod digestive proteases, to appreciate the extent of functional variability among plant cystatin protein family members. The most, and less, potent of these cystatins were then used as donors of structural elements to create hybrids of tomato cystatin SlCYS8 used as a model recipient inhibitor. Our data confirm the wide variety of cystatin protease inhibitory profiles among plant taxa. They also demonstrate the usefulness of these proteins as a pool of discrete structural elements for the design of cystatin variants with improved potency against herbivorous pest digestive Cys proteases.

scholarly journals Site-directed mutagenesis at aspartate and glutamate residues of xylanase from Bacillus pumilus

1992 ◽  
Vol 288 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
E P Ko ◽  
H Akatsuka ◽  
H Moriyama ◽  
A Shinmyo ◽  
Y Hata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Reaction Mechanism ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Bacillus Pumilus ◽  
Specific Activity ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Amino Acid Sequence Similarity ◽  
Directed Mutagenesis

To elucidate the reaction mechanism of xylanase, the identification of amino acids essential for its catalysis is of importance. Studies have indicated the possibility that the reaction mechanism of xylanase is similar to that of hen's egg lysozyme, which involves acidic amino acid residues. On the basis of this assumption, together with the three-dimensional structure of Bacillus pumilus xylanase and its amino acid sequence similarity to other xylanases of different origins, three acidic amino acids, namely Asp-21, Glu-93 and Glu-182, were selected for site-directed mutagenesis. The Asp residue was altered to either Ser or Glu, and the Glu residues to Ser or Asp. The purified mutant xylanases D21E, D21S, E93D, E93S, E182D and E182S showed single protein bands of about 26 kDa on SDS/PAGE. C.d. spectra of these mutant enzymes show no effect on the secondary structure of xylanase, except that of D21E, which shows a little variation. Furthermore, mutations of Glu-93 and Glu-182 resulted in a drastic decrease in the specific activity of xylanase as compared with mutation of Asp-21. On the basis of these results we propose that Glu-93 and Glu-182 are the best candidates for the essential catalytic residues of xylanase.

scholarly journals Identification by site-directed mutagenesis of amino acids contributing to ligand-binding specificity or signal transduction properties of the human FP prostanoid receptor

2003 ◽  
Vol 371 (2) ◽  
pp. 443-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank NEUSCHÄFER-RUBE ◽  
Eva ENGEMAIER ◽  
Sina KOCH ◽  
Ulrike BÖER ◽  
Gerhard P. PÜSCHEL
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Ligand Binding ◽  
G Protein ◽  
Transmembrane Domain ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Membrane Receptors ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Receptor Subtypes ◽  
Plasma Membrane Receptors

Prostanoid receptors belong to the class of heptahelical plasma membrane receptors. For the five prostanoids, eight receptor subtypes have been identified. They display an overall sequence similarity of roughly 30%. Based on sequence comparison, single amino acids in different subtypes of different species have previously been identified by site-directed mutagenesis or in hybrid receptors that appear to be essential for ligand binding or G-protein coupling. Based on this information, a series of mutants of the human FP receptor was generated and characterized in ligand-binding and second-messenger-formation studies. It was found that mutation of His-81 to Ala in transmembrane domain 2 and of Arg-291 to Leu in transmembrane domain 7, which are putative interaction partners for the prostanoid's carboxyl group, abolished ligand binding. Mutants in which Ser-263 in transmembrane domain 6 or Asp-300 in transmembrane domain 7 had been replaced by Ala or Gln, respectively, no longer discriminated between prostaglandins PGF2α and PGD2. Thus distortion of the topology of transmembrane domains 6 and 7 appears to interfere with the cyclopentane ring selectivity of the receptor. PGF2α-induced inositol formation was strongly reduced in the mutant Asp-300Gln, inferring a role for this residue in agonist-induced G-protein activation.

scholarly journals Finding the Binding Site of Peloruside A and its Secondary Effects in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae using a  Chemical Genetics Approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Reem Hanna
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Cell Cycle ◽  
Amino Acids ◽  
Flow Cytometry ◽  
Binding Site ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Peloruside A ◽  
Microtubule Function

<p>Peloruside A, a natural product isolated from the marine sponge Mycale hentscheli, is a microtubule-stabilising agent that has a similar mechanism of action to the anticancer drug paclitaxel and is cytotoxic to cultured mammalian cells. Peloruside appears to bind to a distinct site on mammalian tubulin that is different from that of the taxoid-site drugs. Because of the high sequence homology between yeast and mammalian tubulin, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) was used as a model organism to characterise the peloruside-binding site with the aim of advancing our understanding about this site on mammalian tubulin. Wild type S. cerevisiae (BY4741) was sensitive to peloruside at uM concentrations; however, a strain that lacks the mad2 (Mitotic Arrest Deficient 2) gene showed increased sensitivity to the drug at much lower uM concentrations. This gene is a component of the spindle-assembly checkpoint complex that delays the onset of anaphase in cells with defects in mitotic spindle assembly. The main aims of this project were to define the binding site of peloruside A using yeast tubulin to see if microtubule function and/or morphology is altered in yeast by peloruside, and to identify any secondary drug targets "friends of the target" through chemical genetic interactions profiling (Homozygous deletion profiling microarray). Site-directed mutagenesis was used to mutate two conserved amino acids (A296T; R306H) known to confer resistance to peloruside in mammalian cells. Based on a published computer model of the peloruside binding site on mammalian tubulin, we also mutated three other amino acids, two that were predicted to affect peloruside binding (Q291M and N337L), and one that was predicted to affect laulimalide binding but have little affect on peloruside binding (V333W). We also included a negative control that was predicted to have no effect on peloruside binding (R282Q) and would affect epothilone binding. We found that of the six point mutations, only Q291M failed to confer resistance in yeast and instead it increased the inhibition to the drug. Using a bud index assay, confocal microscopy, and flow cytometry, 40-50 uM peloruside was shown to block cells in G2/M of the cell cycle, confirming a direct action of the drug on microtubule function. Homozygous profiling (HOP) microarray analysis of a deletion mutant set of yeast genes was also carried out to identify gene products that interact with peloruside in order to link the drug to specific networks or biochemical pathways in the cells. From site-directed mutagenesis, we concluded that peloruside binds to yeast B-tubulin in the region predicted by the published model of the binding site, and therefore mapping the site on yeast tubulin could provide useful information about the mammalian binding site for peloruside. The bud index, flow cytometry, and confocal microscopy experiments provided further evidence that peloruside interacts with yeast tubulin. From HOP we found that peloruside has roles in the cell cycle, as expected, and has effects on protein transport, secretion, cell wall synthesis, and steroid biosynthesis pathways.</p>

scholarly journals Site-directed mutagenesis of two conserved charged amino acids in the N-terminal region of α subunit ofE. coli-F0F1

FEBS Letters ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 382 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 171-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Hase ◽  
Sabine Werner-Grüne ◽  
Gabriele Deckers-Hebestreit ◽  
Heinrich Strotmann
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Terminal Region ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Α Subunit ◽  
Charged Amino Acids
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